Chapter 25 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

Ryan drops Jackie off at Sparrow Crest at nine thirty in the evening. Diane has texted that she is running late and will bring pizza and wine. Jackie walks into a dark house and finds her father, Ted, in a chaotic kitchen. Every burner is occupied, the counters are covered in flour, sugar, and canned goods, and the table is piled with plates of chocolate chip pancakes, cheeseburgers, and grilled cheese sandwiches—all of Lexie's favorite foods. Ted is frantically cooking, insisting that Lexie is hungry but won't eat. He shows Jackie a sketchbook filled with quick pencil drawings of Lexie sitting in the kitchen, her hair wet and her eyes wild. He claims Lexie told him she could come back to stay and that they could help her do that.

Diane arrives with pizza and wine. Jackie quietly asks her father to keep Lexie's visit a secret from Diane, and he agrees. Over dinner, Diane expresses deep concern about Ted's behavior, calling it full-on hallucinations rather than ordinary grief. She advises Jackie to seal up Lexie's research papers and journals, arguing that they are a record of Lexie's illness and too painful to revisit. Jackie resists, insisting the papers are also a record of her sister's life. Diane also warns Jackie against making any big decisions, such as moving to Sparrow Crest, and seems almost frightened by the idea of Jackie staying in the house.

After Diane goes to bed, Jackie takes the sketchbook to her room. She flips through it and finds drawings of Lexie in the pool, in the attic, and at the kitchen table. One drawing shows Lexie naked, and Jackie wonders how her father could know such intimate details. She then searches online and finds a blog post about the Brandenburg Springs Hotel, which burned down in 1929 after a series of drownings. The post describes the springs as a sacred place, a door between the worlds, and tells of the Lady of the Springs, a figure who lures people into the water and drowns them. It also recounts the deaths of Nelson DeWitt, who drowned in 1850, and of seven-year-old Martha Woodcock, who drowned shortly after the hotel opened, followed by Eliza Harding, the hotel owner's wife. Jackie connects Martha to Rita's imaginary friend, the little girl in the blue dress, and finds Lexie's handwritten list of drowning victims: Nelson DeWitt, Martha W., Eliza Harding, Rita Harkness. She realizes Lexie had figured out the pattern.

Hearing her father's voice outside and then Lexie's voice saying "Mum's the word," Jackie rushes to the pool. She finds Ted holding the plastic urn containing Lexie's ashes. Despite Diane's cries to stop, Ted dumps the ashes into the dark water, saying it is what Lexie wants and that it will help her come back. Jackie watches the ashes sink and then, for a half second, sees a pale hand and arm rise out of the black water before vanishing.

Key Events

Ted cooks an elaborate meal of Lexie's favorite foods, claiming she visited but wouldn't eat.
Ted shows Jackie a sketchbook with detailed drawings of Lexie, including one of her in the pool.
Jackie asks Ted to keep Lexie's visit a secret from Diane.
Diane warns Jackie about Ted's hallucinations and advises sealing up Lexie's research papers.
Jackie takes the sketchbook and discovers drawings of Lexie in intimate detail.
Jackie finds a blog post about the Brandenburg Springs Hotel and the curse of the springs.
Jackie connects Martha Woodcock to Rita's imaginary friend and finds Lexie's list of drowning victims.
Jackie hears Lexie's voice and rushes to the pool, where Ted dumps Lexie's ashes into the water.
Jackie sees a pale hand rise from the pool before it disappears.

Character Development

Jackie's internal conflict deepens in this chapter. She has been trying to maintain a rational, social-worker perspective on her father's behavior, but the evidence—the sketchbook, the blog post, the list, and the voice she hears—pushes her toward belief. Her guilt over Lexie's death resurfaces, and she begins to wonder if she is losing her mind. Her decision to take the sketchbook without permission shows her growing desperation to understand what is happening.

Ted is fully consumed by grief and denial. His cooking is an attempt to conjure Lexie back, and his belief that scattering her ashes will help her return reveals how far he has drifted from reality. His actions are frantic and desperate, and he seems to have abandoned any pretense of normalcy.

Diane serves as the voice of reason, but her fear is palpable. She is not just concerned about Ted; she is frightened by the idea of Jackie staying in the house, and she admits that the family has a history of pretending problems don't exist. Her advice to seal up Lexie's papers reflects her desire to protect Jackie from the truth, but it also highlights the family's pattern of silence.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

The chapter is rich with recurring themes. Grief and denial are central: Ted's cooking and his belief in Lexie's return are extreme forms of denial, while Jackie's own doubts mirror the same struggle. The pool as a supernatural portal is reinforced by the blog post's description of the springs as a door between the worlds, and by the hand that rises from the water. The curse of the springs and the Lady of the Springs myth provide a historical framework for the drownings, linking Martha, Eliza, Rita, and now Lexie. The list of the drowned becomes a tangible symbol of the pattern Jackie is uncovering. The scattering of ashes is a ritual that Ted believes will enable resurrection, but it also represents the final, irreversible loss of Lexie's physical body. The sketchbook serves as evidence of Ted's delusion and, paradoxically, as a possible record of something real. The wet footprints and the open gate suggest that something has passed through, blurring the line between hallucination and reality. The pact of secrecy between Jackie and Ted echoes the family's long history of silence, a motif that Diane explicitly names. Finally, the Dead Game—the childhood game Jackie and Lexie played—returns as a memory, tying Jackie's present fear to her past.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point in the novel. It provides crucial backstory about the Brandenburg Springs Hotel and the curse that has haunted the land, giving historical weight to the supernatural events. It also confirms that Lexie was actively investigating the drownings, and that her list connects the victims across generations. The scattering of Lexie's ashes is a dramatic, irreversible act that raises the stakes: if Ted's belief is correct, the ashes may actually enable Lexie to return, but if not, they represent a final goodbye. Jackie's glimpse of the hand in the water leaves the reader uncertain whether she is seeing a ghost, a hallucination, or something else entirely. The chapter also deepens the theme of family secrecy, as Jackie and Ted conspire to hide the visit from Diane, and as Diane urges Jackie to bury the past. All of these elements converge to set up the novel's climax, making this chapter essential to the plot's momentum.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Ted cook all of Lexie's favorite foods, and what does this reveal about his state of mind?

Ted's cooking is an attempt to conjure Lexie back to life. He believes she is hungry but won't eat, and he is desperate to please her. This behavior reveals that he is in deep denial about her death, unable to accept that she is gone. His frantic, chaotic cooking—covering every burner and filling the table with food—shows a man unraveling, clinging to any ritual that might bring his daughter back.

2. How does the blog post about the Brandenburg Springs Hotel connect to the events of the chapter?

The blog post describes the springs as a sacred, cursed place where drownings have occurred for generations. It names Nelson DeWitt, Martha Woodcock, and Eliza Harding as victims. Jackie realizes that Martha is the same "Martha" who was Rita's imaginary friend, and she finds Lexie's list of drowning victims, which includes these names plus Rita Harkness. This connection suggests that the pool is not just a place of grief but a site of supernatural power, and that Lexie may have been trying to uncover the truth about the curse.

3. What is the significance of Jackie seeing a hand rise from the water after Ted scatters the ashes?

The hand is ambiguous—it could be a hallucination, a ghost, or a sign that Ted's belief is correct. Jackie is already in a heightened emotional state, and she has been hearing Lexie's voice. The hand rising from the water suggests that the ashes may have triggered something, or that the pool is indeed a portal. The fact that it vanishes after a half second leaves the reader questioning what is real, reinforcing the novel's central tension between belief and skepticism.