Chapter 29 Summary, Analysis, and Key Themes

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This page will discuss the chapter's events, character arcs, and thematic significance in depth.

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Note: All analysis is original and based on the chapter's content; no direct quotes are used.

Summary

Clio leaves the city with a new sketchpad, Sharpies, a bottle of vodka, cigarettes, and a hot pink lighter. She returns to Edgewood and arranges these items on the dining table, photographing the grim tableau. Her father calls, and she answers, immediately confronting him about the family's lies—she knows her mother didn't burn her, and that everyone has been deceiving her. She claims she has plans with a man to deter him from coming over, and hangs up.

She lights a cigarette, dislikes the taste but continues smoking, then opens the vodka and drinks. She tears pages from the sketchpad and places them around the house: on the dining table, kitchen island, coffee table, in her sisters' room, her mother's room, and her own room. Under her bed she finds a plastic bin containing her childhood drawings, including at least twenty illustrations of the house. She photographs them, then uses a Sharpie to black out the windows in each drawing. She notices the attic panel in her closet but is interrupted by a knock at the door.

Austin arrives, having seen her Instagram stories. They sit on the front steps, and he expresses concern, but Clio pushes him away, accusing him of only wanting her for fun and not caring about her problems. He retaliates by calling her alone and fucked-up, and she insults the necklace he wears, which belonged to his late father. He leaves.

Back inside, Clio drinks more and reads from the book, encountering a passage where Roy explains that the demon predates the house and lived in the woods; it is not eager for change and may prevent the family from leaving. She also finds a page marked