Chapter 32 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
Chapter 32 opens with Sariyah driven by an insistent need—the recurring sensation that guides her—as she searches a house for Deja. She gets down on all fours and peers into a hole in the floor, but the fading daylight doesn't reach far. Her phone's flashlight provides limited help, and when she extends her arm into the space, something brushes her wrist, causing her to drop the phone. The phone lands sideways against a rock, illuminating a set of long, honey-brown box braids—Deja's.
Sariyah screams, a guttural sound she's never made before. She has to reassure herself that Deja isn't dead, reasoning that if she were, Sariyah wouldn't be hearing her need. She realizes there must be an entrance to the crawl space and searches the house. Outside, nothing. Back inside, she spots the hinge of a crawl space hatch door on the floor of a bedroom closet, partially concealed by renovation supplies. She finds Walmart bags filled with snacks and drinks stashed beneath a sheet, and the hatch is padlocked with an old, cheap lock—clearly meant to keep Deja in rather than intruders out.
Sariyah finds a rusty toolbox on the top shelf and discovers a tiny key inside. After several trembling attempts, she opens the lock, grabs a bottle of water, and throws open the hatch. A strong, mildewy odor hits her. The crawl space is no more than three feet high, and despite her discomfort with confined spaces, she wiggles down and crawls to her friend.
Deja is barely responsive, offering only shallow moans. Sariyah pats her face, and Deja slowly opens her eyes, gasping and reaching out, saying she thought she was dreaming. Sariyah gives her water, which Deja gulps down. The air is warm and thick, hard to breathe. Deja asks where Jed is, and Sariyah says they need to hurry. Sariyah's phone is caked with mud and glitches, refusing to make calls.
Deja begins to crawl toward the exit, mumbling through tears that something's wrong with Jed—he thinks she's someone else. Sariyah tells her they can worry about that later and helps her toward the entrance. But then there's a noise: a door opening and closing, boots across the wood floors. Sariyah presses her finger to her lips, grabs a wrench, and slips into the bedroom, pulling the closet door nearly shut.
A massive figure steps into the light: Fitz. Sariyah drops the wrench and begs him to call 911. He whips his phone out, and she darts back to help Deja. But she realizes she doesn't hear Fitz talking. An icy chill spreads across her body. A song starts—something old and jazzy—from a Bluetooth speaker on the shelf. Deja recognizes it; she'd played it by accident in the library at school. Fitz sings along, and Deja begs Jed to let them go.
Sariyah pieces it together: Fitz is Jed. He reveals he sent Deja a playlist of Ella Fitzgerald classics and wrote love letters inside The Great Gatsby, thinking she'd find it cute once she understood. When Sariyah asks why, he says, for Crystelle, of course. Deja sobs that her name isn't Crystelle, and Fitz bellows that he knows that.
Sariyah doesn't wait for more. She grabs the toolbox and smacks Fitz across the side of the head, blood spattering the wall as he collapses. His phone slides across the room, stopping under the windowsill. Sariyah scrambles for it, but a need begins to form in the back of her mind—staticky and unstable. Deja shouts a warning, and Sariyah forces the window open, hurling half her body out. Fitz grabs her legs like a vise. She resists, grasping the slick siding, but he yanks hard. Her chin clips the windowsill on the way back inside, and everything goes black.
Key Events
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Sariyah locates Deja in a crawl space beneath a house, guided by her need sense
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She finds a padlocked hatch in a bedroom closet and a key in a toolbox
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She gives Deja water and helps her begin to crawl toward freedom
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Deja reveals Jed thinks she's someone else
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Fitz appears and is revealed as the kidnapper, having posed as Jed
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Fitz explains his motive: he did it for Crystelle
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Sariyah strikes Fitz with the toolbox and attempts to escape through a window
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Fitz pulls her back, she hits her chin, and loses consciousness
Character Development
Sariyah demonstrates remarkable determination and resourcefulness. Her need sense guides her precisely to Deja, and she overcomes her discomfort with confined spaces to crawl into the crawl space. She keeps her composure long enough to free Deja, but her trust in Fitz proves to be a fatal miscalculation. Her instinct to fight—striking Fitz with the toolbox—shows her willingness to use violence when necessary, but her escape attempt fails.
Deja is weak but alive, barely responsive at first. She identifies her captor as Jed and reveals a crucial detail: he thinks she's someone else. Her recognition of the Ella Fitzgerald song and her desperate plea to Jed to let them go show her fear and confusion.
Fitz is revealed as the villain. His calm demeanor, his elaborate courtship through playlists and love letters, and his chilling explanation—for Crystelle—paint a picture of obsession and delusion. His violent reaction when Deja insists her name isn't Crystelle shows the instability beneath his composed surface.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Water as life: The chapter opens with the repeated word water, and Sariyah's first act after freeing Deja is giving her water. Water represents survival and care, a stark contrast to the confinement and neglect Deja has endured.
The need sense: Sariyah's guiding ability is central here—it leads her to Deja, and it warns her of danger when a new need forms, staticky and unstable, right before Fitz attacks.
Confinement: The crawl space is a physical symbol of Deja's captivity—low, dark, mildewy, barely three feet high. The padlocked hatch, secured with a cheap lock meant to keep someone in, emphasizes the cruelty of her imprisonment.
Identity deception: Fitz's entire courtship was built on a lie—he posed as Jed, sent Ella Fitzgerald playlists, and wrote love letters inside The Great Gatsby. The coded clues were never meant for Deja to solve; they were for Crystelle, the person he believes Deja to be.
Villain reveal: The chapter delivers the story's central revelation—the kidnapper is someone Sariyah knows and trusts. The betrayal is compounded by the fact that Fitz seemed helpful moments before.
Violence: The chapter ends with a violent struggle. Sariyah's blow with the toolbox is a desperate act, and Fitz's retaliation—grabbing her legs and pulling her back—shows the physical danger she's in.
Why This Chapter Matters
This is the climax of the rescue arc and the moment the novel's central mystery is solved. The villain's identity is revealed, the motive is stated, and the stakes are raised to their highest point. Sariyah's rescue attempt fails, leaving both her and Deja in grave danger. The chapter also deepens the novel's exploration of obsession and deception, showing how Fitz's fixation on Crystelle drove him to kidnap Deja. The cliffhanger ending—Sariyah unconscious, Fitz in control—sets up the final confrontation.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does Sariyah's need sense function in this chapter, and what does it reveal about her abilities?
Sariyah's need sense guides her directly to Deja, pulling her back to the hole in the floor even when she takes laps around the house. It also serves as a warning system: when a new need forms, staticky and unstable, right before Fitz attacks, it signals danger. The chapter shows that the need sense is both a locating tool and an early-warning system, though Sariyah doesn't always have time to act on it.
2. What does Fitz's explanation reveal about his motive?
Fitz says he kidnapped Deja for Crystelle. He sent Ella Fitzgerald playlists and wrote love letters inside The Great Gatsby, believing Deja would eventually understand. When Deja insists her name isn't Crystelle, Fitz bellows that he knows—revealing that he's aware of the mistaken identity but is driven by obsession nonetheless. His motive is rooted in a delusional fixation on Crystelle, not on Deja herself.
3. Why does Sariyah's escape attempt fail?
Sariyah's escape attempt fails for several reasons. Her phone is caked with mud and won't make calls, so she can't summon help. She trusts Fitz initially, asking him to call 911, which gives him time to close in. When she does strike him and try to escape through the window, Fitz recovers quickly and grabs her legs. The slick siding gives her no purchase, and he yanks her back inside, causing her to hit her chin and lose consciousness. Her plan was sound but executed against a determined and physically stronger opponent.
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