Chapter 23 Summary: A Psychic Battle and a New Beginning

⚠️ 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

Thea dreams of a storm and of Riggs waiting for her in his cell. She willingly enters the dream to confront him. Riggs taunts her, calling her by a childhood nickname. He lunges with a knife and cuts her shoulder in the dream. Thea wakes to find a real blood smear on her shoulder, a physical injury from the psychic attack.

At dawn, she tells Lucy and Rem about the encounter. She admits that she had earlier used her gift to fight back: she built a dream version of her game Perilous Island and forced Riggs to play it, making him suffer. She explains that Riggs has been trying to invade her dreams for a while, and she hid her struggles from her family. Lucy and Rem forgive her but insist she stop hiding things. Thea also reveals she spent the night with Ty, though she hasn’t told him about her gift.

As summer ends, Thea works to keep Riggs locked out of her dreams, paying for it with headaches and restless nights. On the night before Bray’s first day of school, she watches the lights in Ty’s house.

The chapter shifts to Ty’s perspective. He frets over Bray’s first day, imagining disasters. After putting Bray on the bus, he works on a new song and FaceTimes his bandmate Blaze, who urges him to record it. When Bray returns home with stickers and a story of helping a classmate, Ty realizes he has started building a real life in Kentucky.

At the end of the first week, Ty walks to Thea’s house. She has just finished sending her game to her boss and is anxious. Ty sweeps her up and carries her inside.

Key Events

Thea enters Riggs’s dream space and faces him. He calls her “Foxy Loxy” and cuts her shoulder with a dreamed knife.
Thea wakes to discover blood on her palm from the dream cut.
She confesses to Lucy and Rem: she had previously used her gift to create a violent dream version of Perilous Island to punish Riggs, which scared him off for a time.
She admits she has been hiding her ongoing psychic struggles and her relationship with Ty.
Lucy forbids Thea from entering Riggs’s cell again, and Thea agrees.
Thea spends the rest of August locking Riggs out of her dreams, suffering minor side effects.
Ty experiences Bray’s first day of school, from morning chaos to anxious waiting to the triumphant return.
Ty works on a new song, “I See Her,” and gets encouragement from Blaze to record it himself.
Ty realizes he has made a real life in Kentucky.
The chapter ends with Ty walking to Thea’s house and carrying her inside.

Character Development

Thea Fox: She moves from isolating her psychic battles to opening up to her family. She acknowledges the cost of using her gift for harm and the need to share burdens. Her relationship with Ty deepens, and she admits she loves him.
Ty Brennan: His internal shift from a visiting father to a settled resident becomes concrete. He handles Bray’s first day with vulnerability and pride. He starts planning a permanent home and recording studio, and he actively pursues Thea.
Lucy: She demonstrates firm but loving leadership, setting boundaries while offering support.
Riggs: Though in prison, he shows that his psychic attacks are taking a toll on his own health (nosebleeds, aged appearance). His ability to physically wound Thea in a dream expands the danger.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Psychic Power and Responsibility: Thea used her gift to attack Riggs out of anger. The consequence is that he gained deeper access to her mind and the ability to harm her physically.
Parental Love and Letting Go: Ty’s emotional arc with Bray’s first school day mirrors the theme of releasing a child into the world while struggling with fear.
Building a Life: Ty’s decision to plan renovations and record a song in Kentucky symbolizes his commitment to a new, permanent home.
Secrets and Trust: Thea learns that withholding her struggles from loved ones weakens her support system; honesty becomes a family rule.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point in the psychic conflict. Riggs proves he can injure Thea in the physical world through dream attacks, raising the stakes. Thea’s confession to Lucy and Rem re-establishes the family as a unified front. Simultaneously, Ty solidifies his place in the community and his feelings for Thea, setting the stage for a romance that must eventually confront the truth of her gift. The dual storylines—psychic battle and domestic routine—blend to show that real life and supernatural threats are intertwined.

Study Questions and Answers

1. What does Thea’s decision to confess to her family reveal about her character arc in this chapter?
Answer: It shows her moving from self-reliance and secrecy to accepting that she needs her family’s support. She realizes that hiding her psychic struggles and her relationship with Ty weakens her defenses and her connections.

2. How does Ty’s handling of Bray’s first day of school parallel his own decision to stay in Kentucky?
Answer: His anxiety about letting Bray go to school reflects his fear of change. Yet he watches Bray succeed and feel happy, which helps Ty commit to building a life there—renovating the house, recording a song, and pursuing Thea.

3. What new danger does Riggs’s ability to injure Thea physically from a dream introduce?
Answer: It means his psychic attacks are no longer limited to mental torment. He can cause real harm, blurring the line between dream and reality and forcing Thea to find new ways to defend herself without going back to his cell.

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