Chapter 27 'Alone in the Past' — 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 27 opens with Cassie alone on the TKTS red stairs in Times Square, a solitary figure surrounded by the noise and electric light of the city. She is sweating in the warm evening, her greatcoat folded on her lap, her hat and scarf tucked into its pockets. The lights overwhelm her, and she wants to run somewhere dark and quiet, but she has nowhere else to go. She is stuck in the past with no money, no friends, and no way home. Times Square is illuminated all night and full of tourists, so it feels safe, at least.
She recalls something Izzy once said about Times Square — that only tourists and terrorists would be interested in it — and tears come, quiet and defeated. She thinks about her grandfather's illness and death, and the dark weeks after, when she was truly alone for the first time. But even then, she never felt as alone as she does now.
The chapter then backtracks to explain how she got here. After her bedroom door slammed shut on her, Cassie waited in the parking garage, hoping it would open again and that Drummond would come for her. As hours passed, her hope dimmed. She didn't even know if Drummond could use the Book of Doors — maybe no one could except her.
Too numb to panic at first, she wandered up out of the garage into the hot New York afternoon, walking aimlessly until she found herself on a bench in Central Park. She tried to think rationally about her problem, but there was no solution. She had no money, and any ID she carried was dated from the future and would be useless. Panic rose like floodwaters, and she hyperventilated on the bench while the city went about its business and ignored her.
Hours later, in Times Square, Cassie tries to focus on positives: it's warm, she won't freeze, she's not in immediate danger. She sits on the stairs all night, strangely scared to move, as if moving would make her situation real. The city never sleeps, and in the small hours she dozes sitting up. When she wakes, she sees an advertisement for a film that is ten years old, and the full weight of her displacement crashes back upon her.
She walks to Penn Station to use the toilet and drink from a water fountain. There she sees a homeless woman carrying bulging plastic bags, wearing many layers of clothing, and sees her own future — becoming anonymous and forgotten, a loner telling crazy stories about being from the future. Panic drives her back out into the morning air, and she walks north to Bryant Park, where she and Drummond had sat the previous day watching the younger Drummond and his friends.
At a table in the park, she remembers Hugo Barbary's words before he pushed her through the door — that perhaps he killed her friend because she annoyed him. She drops her head into her hands, wondering if it's true, if Izzy is dead. Tears come endlessly until she is an exhausted shell.
When she is spent, she asks herself who could help her. Her grandfather is a continent away, and even if she could reach him, he has his own Cassie to look after. The Izzy of ten years ago doesn't know her. The future Drummond Fox hasn't come to rescue her. But what about the past Drummond Fox?
For a moment, this feels like a way forward. She and her Drummond had watched the younger Drummond in Bryant Park the previous day. But then she realizes the past Drummond is gone — the previous evening he saw his friends killed by the woman, and he fled, beginning his ten years of running and hiding. She has no way of knowing where he would be until ten years in the future.
Drummond Fox can't help her. If there is nobody else in the past who can help her, she has to help herself. And there is only one way back to her own time: she has to find the Book of Doors. The answer is simple — start with the man who gave it to her: Mr. Webber.
Cassie waits for Mr. Webber outside his building. When he emerges in the late afternoon, she barely recognizes him — this is a younger Mr. Webber with darker hair and fewer years. She catches up to him and pours out her story, twelve hours of fear and anxiety flooding out because she sees a face she knows, even if that face doesn't know her. She tells him she needs the Book of Doors, that he gives it to her in the future.
Mr. Webber's brow creases as he tries to place her. He says he doesn't know what the Book of Doors is, but he pulls a few notes from his pocket and presses them into her hand, telling her to get food and a drink. He mentions a women's shelter in Midtown, apologizes that he can't do more, then hurries away, throwing one worried glance over his shoulder to see if the madwoman is following him.
Cassie stands there dumbly, the notes crumpled in her hand, the uncaring city churning around her.
Key Events
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Cassie spends the night alone on the TKTS stairs in Times Square after being stranded in the past
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She confirms her time displacement when she sees a film advertisement that is ten years old
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At Penn Station, she sees a homeless woman and fears becoming anonymous and forgotten
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At Bryant Park, she remembers Hugo Barbary's threat that he may have killed Izzy
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She considers finding the past Drummond Fox but realizes he has already fled into hiding after his friends' deaths
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She decides her only way home is to find the Book of Doors
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She approaches Mr. Webber, who doesn't recognize her, denies knowing the book, gives her money, and hurries away
Character Development
Cassie's resilience is tested to its limits in this chapter. She moves through stages of denial, panic, despair, and finally determination. Her attempt to focus on positives — it's warm, she's safe — shows her trying to keep herself together. Her fear of becoming like the homeless woman in Penn Station reveals her deepest anxiety: not just being stranded, but being erased, becoming someone the world ignores.
Her decision to find the Book of Doors herself marks a shift from waiting for rescue to taking action. She rules out the past Drummond Fox not because she doesn't want his help, but because she knows from his memories that he has already begun his decade of hiding. This shows her using what she has learned about others to make practical decisions.
The encounter with Mr. Webber is a painful lesson in the limits of help from strangers. He is kind — he gives her money and points her toward a shelter — but he cannot give her what she actually needs. Cassie's realization that she must rely on herself is the chapter's emotional core.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Isolation and loneliness: Cassie is surrounded by crowds throughout the chapter — tourists in Times Square, commuters in Penn Station, people in Bryant Park — yet she is utterly alone. The city's indifference is a constant presence.
The past as alien territory: Even familiar places become hostile when Cassie is displaced in time. Her ID is useless, her knowledge of the future is a liability, and the people she knows don't know her.
Fear of anonymity: The homeless woman in Penn Station is a symbol of what Cassie fears most — becoming invisible, forgotten, a person whose story no one believes.
Hope and despair: The chapter charts Cassie's emotional arc from hope (waiting for Drummond) to despair (the ten-year-old film ad, Barbary's threat about Izzy) to a fragile new hope (finding the Book of Doors) and finally to disappointment (Mr. Webber's denial).
Seeking help from strangers: Mr. Webber's kindness is real but insufficient. He helps the person he sees — a woman in need — but cannot help the person Cassie actually is.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is a turning point for Cassie. It strips away her reliance on others — Drummond, Izzy, her grandfather, even the future Drummond — and forces her to confront the fact that she must save herself. Her decision to find the Book of Doors sets up the next phase of her journey.
The chapter also deepens the novel's exploration of time travel's costs. Cassie's displacement is not just physical but existential: she is a person without a time, without an identity that anyone in the past can verify. The chapter raises questions about what happens when a person becomes untethered from their own history.
Mr. Webber's denial is significant. In the future, he gives Cassie the Book of Doors, but in the past he doesn't know it exists — or claims not to. This raises questions about when and why he acquired the book, and whether Cassie's actions in the past might change the future she came from.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Cassie decide she must find the Book of Doors herself rather than continue waiting for help?
Cassie exhausts every other possibility. The future Drummond Fox hasn't come for her, and she doesn't know if he can even use the book. The past Drummond Fox has already fled into hiding after his friends were killed, so she has no way to find him. Her grandfather is a continent away and has his own Cassie to care for. The Izzy of ten years ago doesn't know her. With no one else to turn to, she realizes the only way back to her own time is to retrieve the Book of Doors herself, starting with the man who gave it to her in the future: Mr. Webber.
2. What does the homeless woman in Penn Station represent to Cassie?
The homeless woman — carrying bulging plastic bags, wearing many layers of clothing — becomes a mirror for Cassie's worst fear. She sees herself becoming anonymous and forgotten, one of the people hidden beneath the surface of New York, a loner who tells crazy stories about being from the future. The image crystallizes her terror of being erased from the world's notice, of losing not just her time but her identity.
3. Why is Mr. Webber's refusal to help her significant for the story?
Mr. Webber's denial creates a puzzle. In the future, he gives Cassie the Book of Doors, but in the past he claims not to know what it is. His kindness — giving her money and directing her to a shelter — shows he is a decent man, but he cannot give her what she actually needs. The chapter leaves open the question of when and how Mr. Webber acquired the book, and whether Cassie's presence in the past might alter the chain of events that led to her receiving it in the future.
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